Those Guys
by BrickmasterGuy
Summary: I can't let go of my series for some reason, so I'm writing *another* one. Fourth time's the charm, right? **Sequel to A Goat Unpersuadable** [I stopped writing this. This will no longer update.]
1. 1,826 Days

**A/N: First of all, if you want to read this here on , go ahead, but if you have the ability to, I'd recommend you read this on Ao3 at Brickmaster_Guy, as there are more notes and better communications over there. But, uh, sorry for writing _another_ one of these. I explained my reasons for writing a fourth one more on Ao3, but for now just know that this is being written so that I can get my personal closure on this series and finally move on. Sorry for this. Read it if you want to or don't if you don't— I don't care too much. Sorry again.**

Darkness. A sort of physical manifestation of anxiety. A presence. Power. She'd felt these before, but it'd been so long that she'd come close to forgetting. No, she neverwouldforget, but she'd pushed it back in her mind. She didn't want to think much about the bad parts of her life anymore. But here she was confronted— surrounded by her past and her tormenter. She'd come to hate it more and more every passing day, culminating in such rage that she refused to even give him so much as a single thought. But now she would be able to think of nothing _but_ him. The black goat.

From the void was the black goat. He didn't seem to step forward, nor did Mae, yet now she saw him where he wasn't before. He greeted Mae. She stepped forward, attempting to get a good look at him. The one that killed Casey. That killed the taco guy. Bea's dad. Mae paused. Angus. Mae furrowed her brow and began to yell. "What do you want?! Haven't you done enough? I destroyed you, remember? You're stuck in that hole and moved on. I lived. I won. Your cult is dead, and I'm alive! What could you possibly want? To ask for forgiveness? For more help? Well, I've moved on, and I'm _never_ gonna help you like I did. Just keep to yourself and stop being a sore loser, asshole."

The darkness shifted slightly, and she heard the goat's booming voice in her head. He simply acknowledged Mae with a grunt. Mae had tears well up in her eyes as rage reinvigorated her again.

"Fuck you, asshole! You don't deserve to even exist, let alone torment me for the rest of your sad life! I got you already! You killed enough, you're not gonna get anymore! Was Casey not enough? Bea's dad? Angus?! You've destroyed enough lives!" Mae screamed.

The goat shifted again, and Mae felt surrounded, restrained even. She struggled against the nothing that bound her, only resulting in grunts from Mae with no real results. Mae felt the voice again in her mind. A sort of whispering filled her head. Thoughts that weren't hers leaked into her own. Her anger at the goat was slowly fading into an acceptance.Mae struggled against it, physically and mentally, to no avail. She hated it. She hated this whole thing. A bad, bitter taste began to fill her mouth. She heard her own voice in her head pledging allegiance to the goat. She heard herself join the cult again. Mae went limp, tears dripping down her face as she remembered the cult and her assistance to it. She helped the cult.

Mae's eyes opened. She was back in the real world. Objects seemed fuzzy, however, and all was still terribly dark as she tried to realign herself in reality. She heard a voice she couldn't make out and felt someone adjusting her position. She blinked her eyes tightly, and tried to clear her throat. She opened her eyes again, and saw her bedroom, fuzzy and out of focus, but recognizable. The voice became clearer as she began to pinpoint the source— Bea.

Mae sat up. Bea asked, "Mae? You hear me? Are you alright?" Mae shook her head, and shut her eyes again as the light was suddenly switched on, blinding her.

Mae cleared her throat again, and hoarsely responded. "Yeah, I'm good, why?"

"You were having a nightmare or something, babe. You were, like, thrashing around and shouting. I thought you were having a seizure or something. But you're okay?"

"I'm good." Mae tasted the bitter taste in her mouth still.

"Alright, well, you also threw up, so, maybe you should go get some water to drink or whatever."

Mae looked down at herself. "Ughhh, gross." She began to slide out of bed.

"Hey, uh, what were you dreaming of though? You scared me to death with that."

Mae thought for a moment, a simple hum indicating it. "Uh… It was… I saw…" Mae nervously stuttered as she tried to convey what was bothering her without continuing Bea's anxiety.

"...Was it, uh… you know?" Mae nodded and Bea put her hand on Mae's shoulder. "You wanna talk about it?" Mae nodded again. "Alright, well go clean yourself up first, Maeday."

The cat stood up and wandered over to the bathroom, quickly discarding the dirtied shirt and sweatpants she'd been wearing. It was almost as if she was four, having nightmares and messing up her bed. Mae looked at the time, which showed it was five. She would've been getting up in only half an hour, so she decided she might as well start her day now. She got in the shower and turned the water on, doing her best to stay out of the spray until it warmed up.

It had been at least five years since Gregg first moved to Bright Harbor. Maybe even coming up on six— she'd have to ask him about it. But regardless, it didn't make for her nightmares to be acting up now. Unless… She thought about it in her head, and then suddenly became tense. It had been exactly five years since Angus died.

Angus was a great guy. He completed Gregg and seemed to beam politeness and rationality wherever he went. After he died, Gregg's whole world changed, and to be frank, so did Mae's. Angus had been a beacon, an anchor of Mae to reality. Gregg was always there, and next to him was always Angus. It's been that way for forever. But then he was gone. Angus wasn't there to fix her computer, or to steady Gregg, or to cook amazing food, or to convince Mae that the supernatural and unrealistic weren't real. Even before she'd moved to Bright Harbor she'd noticed. Mae missed that guy probably as much as Gregg did.

Mae walked out of the bathroom dressed in her uniform. She'd gotten a job as assistant manager at a popular restaurant just around the block of her apartment, and wasn't about to ruin that, regardless of her terrible start to the day. Mae's stomach growled as she grabbed her phone off of her bedside table, and so she walked into the kitchen. In the kitchen was Bea, making pancakes.

Mae noticed Bea cooking and said, "Aww, you don't have to do that, Bea."

Bea turned and looked at Mae. "I can make you some breakfast for once." Bea flipped the pancake. "Sit down." Mae sat down at the small table they had against the wall. "So what was bothering you, Mae?"

Mae sighed. "Well, I had one of those nightmares with that goat guy."

"Like you did when we were in Possum Springs?"

"Yeah, like that, except this time he did nothing at all, at least at first. I just saw him, and started thinking about all he's done. And… and I just was angry. I was just absolutely pissed, and I was yelling at him, but he still did nothing. Then I felt that I couldn't move, and I started hearing his voice in my head, and it started getting hard to think and—"

Bea set a plate of syrup-coated pancakes on the table in front of Mae before sitting down across from her with her own plate. "Mae, it's alright." Bea caressed the side of Mae's face with her hand, and Mae smiled. "So is there any reason that this is bothering you again, all of a sudden?" Bea began to cut into the pancakes on her plate.

Mae frowned. "It's, uh, been exactly five years."

Bea chewed the food in her mouth and swallowed. "Five years? Five years sincewhat?"

"Since Angus died."

"...Oh. Mae, do you need to—"

"No, I'm fine." Mae began to eat her pancakes.

"Are you sure? Cause—"

"No, no, I'm okay. I'm not four anymore, I can manage myself. Thanks for letting me talk to you, anyways."

"...Do you wanna do something with Gregg maybe?"

"I don't know. I'll think about it at work, BeaBea."

"Alright."

After that, the two finished their morning routines and both headed off to work. Bea took their car over to her job across town, while Mae began simply to walk to the restaurant, which was so close that the parking nearest the place was probably in her apartment building.

Work wasn't interesting, as usual. A couple of annoying groups of people, a few genuinely nice and caring people, and a lot of people in between. Yet Mae still had her dream and Angus on her mind. It all just sucked and Mae wished she could just go back and fix it. It was her fault that the cult was able to make such a comeback, and it was her fault that Angus died. She couldn't just ignore that. It was her fault that she helped the cult and allowed one cultist to live, and then it was her fault that she didn't go out to call for help. Instead she just went and shot the cultist with that gun, and Angus died because of her. Mae did it.

"Excuse me? Did you hear me?" Mae looked up. She'd zoned out standing at a couple's table and had started crying. "...Are you alright, miss?" the woman asked.

Mae wiped the tears away from her eyes and cleared her throat. "Yeah, yeah, sorry. It's just… a lot on my mind. What was it you wanted?"

"Are you sure you're alright?"

"Yes. What did you need?"

"Uh, could we get some more tea?" Mae nodded and walked off to go grab some tea.

Mae caused this. Gregg probably blamed her for it, too. Maedidcause his death. He was stabbed and bled because of Mae's blind rage and incompetence. If only she could go back and stop herself from joining the cult. Convince her friends that the figurewasa cultist. Make herself go out for help. To fix her horrible mistakes. But now she couldn't. She'd have to live with her guilt and her mistakes. With her failure as a friend. With her failure as a person. With her.

Mae opened the door to her apartment and walked in. Locking it behind her, she immediately began to get out of her uniform. Bea wasn't home yet and Mae felt terrible. Work was annoying and Mae felt like the personification of sadness. She stripped down to a plain white shirt and underwear and fell onto the couch. She looked down upon hearing her phone buzz in the floor in her pile of clothes. She groaned and reached out to grab it out of her pocket. Germ had texted.

Germ moved to Bright Harbor a bit after Mae and Bea, but lived across the city. He also now finally owned a phone, and he used it often. Mae didn't mindtoomuch though, he was a very… interesting person. He'd also come out as gay a few months back, which meant that pretty much no one in their friend group was straight. It was almost comical, really.

 _'Hey are we doing anything tonight?'_

 _'uh i guess so. i havent talked to gregg about anything tho'_

 _'Alright then. Your place?'_

 _'maybe. ask gregg about it for me'_

 _'Ok'_

Mae groaned and let her phone slip out of her hand onto the floor. She was tired from work and was just generally sad. Reminiscing on her past was always bad, and she'd spent her whole day doing just that. Mae grabbed a pillow and buried her face into it, giving a loud sigh. Angus… Goddamnit, why did she have to fuck everything up? Angus would still be alive if Mae wasn't such an asshat. She was to blame.

Mae turned over and closed her eyes. She wouldn't be bothered by her own thoughts if she was asleep, right? She could just sleep and not have to worry about anything. And so, with that thought slowly growing in her mind, she drifted to sleep.


	2. After-Work Angus Appreciation

Once again she was bound by an invisible force, and was again sat before him. She could feel him staring her down, actually experiencing the tactile sensation of his intense glare. Then she felt his grasp tighten. She was in pain as she struggled against the bind. It was fruitless, however. He had been, was, and always would be stronger than her no matter what she did. He'd exercised his power before and now he was doing it again. Mae tasted ash as she sputtered, trying to get the terrible taste out of her dry mouth. It was suffocating. Her lungs were filling up with soot. She was gonna die.

"Mae! Mae, what's going on?"

Mae's eyes suddenly shot open and she saw Bea standing over her with her hands gripping her shoulder. Mae coughed and asked, "What?"

Bea sighed, bowing her head. Her eyes closed and her hand slipped off of Mae. "So you're okay? It looked like you were having another nightmare."

Mae began to sit up, still tasting a hint of ash in her mouth. "Uh, I guess I was. But I'm fine now, so, whatever." Mae cleared her throat. "Uh, so did you just get back from work?"

Bea sat down next to Mae on the couch. "Yeah, I did, but back to you. Are you _sure_ you're okay? You've had two nightmares just today."

"Yeah, I'm good. It's just the whole… you know." Mae waggled her hand, gesturing around. Then she used the same hand to push her hair out of her face. Damn, she needed a haircut. "I'll be alright, I'm just… sad and all."

"Yeah I know…" Bea let her head slowly drop forward again for a moment before pulling it back up. "Uh, so do you know if we're doing anything with Gregg tonight? You know, with the stuff and all?"

"Uh, maybe. I asked Germ about it earlier, before I fell asleep."

Bea quietly laughed. "You couldn't stay awake for a whole twelve hours straight if your life depended on it."

"Nuh uh! I could stay awake for a whole _twenty-four_ hours if I wanted!" Mae put her hands on Bea's shoulder and shook her back and forth. "I could!"

Bea pulled Mae closer to her. "Okay, okay, maybe you could. Back to tonight. What'd Germ say?"

"Oh, uh, lemme see." Mae reached down with a grunt and grabbed her phone. "Germ. Jeremy. Jer-eh-my." Mae swiped her finger across the screen trying to see what Germ had said. "Um, he said that him and Gregg'll come over here in maybe… an hour? What time is it?" Mae scanned the screen with her eyes.

"It's quarter to eight." Bea stated, glancing down at her watch.

"Oh, 7:45." Mae said looking at her screen.

"That's what 'quarter to eight' means, Mae."

"Nah, that's not _real_ time. Who knows what 'quarter past' and 'half past' means?"

"Most people."

"Lies." Mae turned her head away dramatically, the back of her hand placed on her forehead.

Bea chuckled. "Okay, so Germ and Gregg're coming over in an hour?"

"Germ said at 8:30 and it's 7:45 now, so, yeah."

"Cool." Bea used Mae's shoulder to stand herself up. "Well then you make sure to not be asleep when they _do_ come, okay?"

Mae gave an exaggerated scoff. "It's like you don't trust me at _a_ _ll."_

Bea stretched her arms behind her with a grunt. "Maybe I don't. So what?" Bea teased.

"I'll… uh…" Mae thought, "do nothing I guess."

Bea smiled and started heading out of the room. "Okay, got it." Bea stopped and turned around. "But, really, don't. This isn't us just hanging out. This is really important for all of us. Gregg really cares about this, and I care about it a whole bunch, too."

"I know. I won't fall asleep." Mae's regular teasing and sarcasm had faded out of her voice and now she had a mostly serious, solemn tone.

"Alright. I love you, Maeday."

Mae smiled with genuine happiness. Mae responded, "Love you too, Beabea." Bea entered the two's bedroom after hearing Mae. The cat lied back down and lifted her phone back up in front of her eyes. She quickly typed a text back to Germ to acknowledge she'd seen what he'd said.

Germ and Gregg moved in together. Germ didn't need much of an apartment, Gregg appreciated the extra money from Germ paying rent, and equally enjoyed having company in the apartment. It certainly wasn't as good as an arrangement as having Angus live with Gregg, but it was the best they could get. Mae would've moved in with Gregg, but her and Bea lived together and that wouldn't have worked.

Mae browsed her phone, too tired to do much else, looking at various websites and social media posts, and before long she heard a knock at the door. Mae sat up on the couch as Bea, who had also been lying on one of the couches, stood up to answer the door.

Bea opened the door, revealing Gregg and Germ, as expected. Bea greeted the two and stood aside to let the two walk in. Gregg wore boots which clacked against the wood floor, and also wore his old, faded leather jacket, which in of itself seemed to be a fruitless attempt to cling to the past. It saddened Mae upon seeing it. Germ wore a new hat and now wore simply a blueish gray hoodie with black jeans, the style of which he hadn't given up on yet. Germ's hands were planted firmly in the baggy sweatshirt.

Gregg and Germ sat on the couch which was formerly occupied by Bea and Bea sat beside Mae who now sat upright. Gregg cleared his throat. "So…"

Mae bowed her head. "Yeah…"

"...There's no reason to be so awkward about all this. Let's just honor Angus and talk about him and stuff. We all knew him and cared about him, so it should be easy to remember him." Germ said, breaking the silence.

Gregg spoke hoarsely, "Yeah, yeah, you're right. We should just talk about him without any awkwardness. It's just… it's been so long." Gregg shifted in his seat. "I miss 'm."

Bea empathically replied, "We all miss him." Gregg smiled weakly.

Normally people get over grief quicker than how long they'd taken, but with the abruptness of his death and the way that they couldn't tell anyone about it, it was much harder to get over him. Gregg had been with him for _years,_ and Bea had been good friends with Angus for a while, too. And Mae was debatably the saddest, having been so tied to the killers and the actual murder. Everyone _did_ miss Angus.

"He didn't deserve it. That asshole should've stabbed me instead." Gregg mumbled.

"You can't think like that Gregg. It really, really _is_ terrible what happened to Angus, but you can't think like that when you think about Angus." Bea comforted.

"But they should've! Angus could've gone on and accomplished so much in his life, and I've accomplished nothing. And he had such a terrible childhood he deserved to live out a good life. But instead he got killed and I'm still here, barely even able to keep going on."

"Stop that, Gregg," Germ compassionately cautioned.

"But am I wrong? He really didn't deserve to die."

"No one here does. Angus didn't deserve it and goddamnit, Gregg, you don't either. Stop blaming yourself for both of our sakes." Bea sternly explained, her voice shaky as if she was on the verge of tears, despite her dry eyes.

"Imight…" Mae uttered under her breath.

"What?" Bea asked, turning her head towards Mae.

"It was nothing," Mae said, half nervously denying she'd said a word.

"Mae, _you_ don't need to blame yourself either. It wasn'tyourfault either. It was no one in this room's fault."

"But I helped the cult." Mae swallowed. "I _killed_ a kid, and I'll never get over that l, just like I'll never get over the fact that I _killed_ Angus." Mae felt a sudden wave of guilt overtake her, and somewhere in her, also the urge simply to talk about the cult. Gregg looked at Mae with the same compassionate eyes that Bea had just a minute ago.

"No you didn't."

"Yes I did! I killed that kid. I killed your dad. I killed Angus and I came so, so close to killing all three of you, too." Mae felt her eyes getting wet. Then she mumbled as quietly as she could, "And I kinda liked it."

Mae's pupils dilated. She didn't mean that. She never had, didn't, and never would enjoy that. Mae didn't even know she was saying that until the words had finished coming out of her mouth. She didn't want to say it and didn't know she was saying it, almost as if a force drove her to say it. An urge maybe? No, this wasn't Mae, and Mae knew that. Maybe…

"And I liked it."

Mae recoiled, cringing into the couch. She said it again. She didn't want to. She didn't mean it. Just a split second ago she'd been feeling guilty about what had happened, right? She _did_ say that, right? She felt it? It happened, right? So how could she be saying that? She hated the fact that she'd killed and been partly responsible for even one death; she'd never say it was enjoyable. Ever. Right?

"What?" Bea asked.

Mae sputtered trying to explain everything away, "Uh… I meant— it wasn't— I didn't— I don't—"

"You liked being part of the cult?" Germ wondered.

"No! No… I didn't even mean to say that… Not that I secretly meant it or something, cause I don't, it was just like… it came out of my mouth, you know? Like I don't mean it, just I said it. Just a weird impulse or something I didn't really… It wasn't something I wanted to say, mostly since I didn't mean it, but, uh, y'know, I'm sorry." Mae nervously explained.

"...You're not, like, still doing cult stuff or something, right?" Gregg questioned.

"No, no, of course not. It's just— sorry I'm so nervous I just feel really bad for accidentally saying that— it's just that I was thinking about what would happen if I said that, and even though I didn't want to and I knew it'd be bad I did it anyways, you know?" Mae partially lied, before clearing her throat, "I'm not doing cult stuff."

"...I don't even know why you first joined the cult," Germ added offhandedly.

"I joined 'em cause I—"

"We're not here to talk about the cult the whole time. We're here to talk about Angus, okay?" Bea mentioned.

Mae nodded while thoughts raced through her head at lightspeed. How could she've said what she did? She didn't mean it, right? Mae felt a figurative cloud come over her thoughts and 'he would've been an easy target' popped into her head. Mae didn't like that. He would've been easy to kill— slow, quiet by nature, too based in logic. Mae really just wanted everyone to leave so she could be by herself and sort her thoughts out.

Time passed as Mae struggled, but barely managed, to keep up with the conversation and topic. Hours later, Gregg and Germ stood up, ready to leave.

Germ stretched his arms above him, his sleeves slipping down his arm as he did. He yawned, pushing his jaw as far open as it would go, then closed his mouth. "Y'know, I'm tired."

Gregg twisted his back, cracking it. "Thank you guys by the way. I really appreciate you guys remembering Angus with me." A weak, solemn smile appeared on his face.

"He deserves it; it's the least we could do," Bea said, standing up with a grunt.

Mae slowly stood up, using Bea's arm to pull herself up. Gregg thanked Bea, his eyes expressing the pained joy that Gregg felt in the presence of his loving friends. "What time is it?" Mae asked.

Bea looked down at her watch. "'Round midnight."

Gregg sighed. "Is it that late already? Damn."

"Need to be careful getting back home," Germ stated.

"Oh yeah, Germ convinced me to bike around instead of driving."

"Didn't you used to bike a lot anyways?" Mae asked.

"Yeah, but Germ here," Gregg notioned to Germ with a dumb, bittersweet smile, "wants me to bike everywhere— no driving."

"What, so have you two got one of those bikes with two seats?" Mae wondered.

"A tandem bike? Naw, we got two separate bikes," Germ explained blankly. Mae nodded. Germ was always the most fit out of the group, biking around all the time and other stuff. He could probably bench press the other three if he _really_ tried. He was an example of good physical fitness, where Mae was the opposite on the spectrum; fat, lazy, and malaised.

"Alright, well definitely stay safe riding back with it being dark and all," Bea warned.

"Yeah don't get hit by a car and die," Mae said.

"Or hit a pothole and get thrown into a pole and break my neck?" Gregg replied, his mood improving from the awkward seriousness to a more easygoing one.

"Or—"

"Itiskinda late, just to remind you two," Bea reiterated.

"Oh, y—yeah, sorry. Don't mean to take up all your time," Gregg stuttered. Bea felt bad for taking away all of Gregg's steam like that, but both her and Maedidhave to go to sleep soon; they had work in the morning. Gregg definitely hadn't been like that forever, but after he lost his other half, he'd become more skittish and anxious. Bea really felt as terrible as one could about Gregg, but there wasn't much she could do. The remembering Angus thing was kinda it.

"Welp, uh, see you guys soon then," Gregg waved, opening the door.

Bea and Mae both said their goodbyes as Germ quietly slipped through the door with a simple wave. Gregg followed and closed the door behind him. The apartment was silent now. Mae began heading towards her bedroom, but not before Bea put her hand on Mae's shoulder and turned her around.

"Hey, what was that you said earlier about the cult?" Bea asked.

Mae sighed. "There's no reason to grill me about it."

"What was it you said though?"

"I, um, didn't mean to say it, and I didn't mean it either, but I said that I 'kinda liked it,'" Mae used her fingers to quote what she'd said before.

"...So you didn't mean that?"

"No, of course not. I hated everything that happened with the cult."

Bea exhaled. "Okay, alright. Well you go get into bed. It's late." Bea headed towards the kitchen. "I'll come with you in a couple minutes."

Mae nodded before stepping into the two's bedroom. Mae lied down on the bed, having slid under the covers. Within minutes she'd fallen asleep. Bea later joined the sleeping cat in the soft, warm bed.


	3. Memory Lane

Again there was darkness, anxiety, pressure pushing Mae on all sides. The goat stood before her, and yet again she tasted ash. Dusty soot filled her mouth, drying her tongue and coating her teeth. It felt like she was drowning in sand or something. It was horrible and she desperately wished this wasn't happening, yet it continued. It felt like she was being buried alive, her lungs filling up, but she was still able to breathe at the same time. If it would ever stop, it didn't seem like it would be soon.

What seemed like years went by as Mae struggled against the goat; her vigor and force diminished as time went on and her struggling became nothing. Her thoughts had been occupied the whole time, leaving her even unable to think about the pain she was experiencing. Instead an insidious force grew in her head and overtook her thinking, leaving her practically a useless husk, yet she was still there. Mae wanted to end, yet couldn't even express that in her own mind.

Mae's eyes opened to an alarm going off next to her. She groaned and shut it off. It was time for her day to start again. She sat up and slipped out of bed. Mae had done this too many times, and now her tiredness limited her cognitive ability, and she could only think about her morning routine. Shower. Clothes. Eat. Brush. Shoes. Walk. Work. Work. Work. Mae opened the bathroom door, Bea leaving the bedroom to eat food. The two were reduced to mindless zombies, simply to work and make enough money to live close enough to work.

Mae slowly came to her senses as she adjusted the finicky water temperature of the shower. Her dream stayed in her mind, yet at the same time she couldn't quite pinpoint exactly what happened in her dream. The memory was already fleeting. But it didn't matter; She had to get ready for work.

Mae looked at herself in the mirror before she left the bathroom. She looked terribly tired, but she always looked tired for that matter. Mae wandered into the kitchen, where Bea was eating some boring looking cereal with a spoon and holding her phone haphazardly with the other hand. Mae grabbed a frozen waffle from the freezer and put it in the toaster, and then she sat at the table with Bea.

"Hi," Mae greeted, her head falling into her hand. She yawned and felt even more tired from it.

"Hey," Bea said, not looking up from her phone. She pulled a spoonful of cereal into her mouth.

"I hate waking up this early for work."

"Wow, really?" Bea cynically spoke. "Sorry, sorry, I'm tired."

"...Yeah, not much sleep last night either."

Mae and Bea sat silently for a moment, Bea scrolling through her phone and Mae simply waiting. Then the toaster popped up and Mae grabbed the waffle and put it on a plate, covering it in syrup before sitting down again.

"So… did you have another nightmare?" Bea asked, putting another spoonful of cereal in her mouth.

"Uh…" Mae thought. "No, I'm fine now." She didn't want to worry Bea with her stupid nightmares. Besides, they were only bothering her at night, so it didn't really matter much. "Must've just been cause of, you know."

"Yeah, yeah. Well, that's good." Bea paused. "That the nightmares are gone, I mean."

"Yeah, I gotcha." Mae shoved a relatively large chunk of waffle into her mouth.

"So, uh, whaddya think about going out to dinner tomorrow? Just us two?"

"Hmm," Mae swallowed the food in her mouth, "sounds good."

Bea ate the last bit of cereal in her bowl. "Alright then, I've gotta finish getting ready now."

"Oh, yeah. Love you!"

"Love you too," Bea replied, leaving the kitchen.

Mae smiled. She loved Bea. But she also loved having a job, so Mae finished her waffle and continued along her routine. And shortly after, she left, walking down the street towards her job.

Work was normal. Boring, sometimes annoying, but normal. Mae wished she didn't have to work, but being a bonafide adult required money, and working was basically the only way she could make that money. Terrible.

By the time her shift was nearing its end, she was exhausted. Not to say she wasn't when she first came in earlier, but it was only exacerbated by annoying customers. Maybe that was something with being adult: constant exhaustion. Mae didn't feel like this back in Possum Springs. Well, she did, but only sometimes. Now Mae was almost always somewhat tired, and Mae wouldn't be able to blame it on one specific thing. It aggravated her, but she would deal with it. Maybe she could just go to sleep earlier, but Mae refused. Too much work. Work was too much work, too. It was good that she was finally free for the day.

Heading home, she noticed how nice it was outside. Spring was turning into summer, yet it, thank god, was still not too warm out. It would only be a matter of time before the slight warmth outside turned into terrible, skin-melting heat. Mae would try not to go outside when that started. But here, out in the streets of Bright Harbor, it felt fine. Mae would appreciate it as long as she could. ...Nah, she'd forget how nice it was and then long for it in the sun's wrath upon Earth.

Mae struggled with her keys as she attempted to unlock the door. She only had maybe three, four keys, yet it still seemed absolutely impossible to get the right one. That made even less sense when she thought about how many times she'd used that key already. Weird.

Finally, after a good thirty seconds of floundering, she managed to open the apartment door and enter. She closed it behind her with the bottom of her foot. Stepping forward, Mae flopped forward, face first, onto the couch. Comfy.

She turned around, turning herself so that her back was touching the couch. Her shirt twisted as friction pulled it. The day seemed like it had already lasted a lifetime or two. Mae twisted off the couch onto the ground, and she now lied on the floor. Ugh. She felt both restless and tired. Was that even a possible thing? She pulled herself up onto her feet. She wanted both to just sleep as well as do stuff. Stupid brain.

Mae went into her bedroom, searching around for a minute or two until she found her bass. She plucked the strings, which sounded out a low rumble. Very bass. Because it was a bass. That was how that worked. Mae began to play a simple melody to herself as she thought. Weird Autumn. That was a song she hadn't played for a while. She began to play, quickly getting into the song. It was pulling her back into a time she longed for. Complicated yet simple, peaceful yet violent, good yet bad, she couldn't go back. Mae could try, and try she did, but no amount of old music could bring her back. She pressed her eyes shut as she passionately played the song that, while originally was completely foreign, was now muscle memory, despite the gap between playing. She wished she could go back. She'd do anything for that.

As she finished the song, she sat down on her bed with a sigh. Her trip down memory lane had been rather bittersweet. She remembered how confused with her life she'd been and how complicated things were, and she was glad she'd overcome that, but she also remembered Angus and the fun she'd had, unaffected by adult things. Life had changed, but Mae wouldn't be able to say if it was for better or for worse. Perhaps playing another old song could help her? No. She'd gone far enough down memory lane and now she'd turn around and come back. And as she thought that, she began playing the beginning to Die Anywhere Else, her fingers already performing the song with perfect accuracy. Screw it; she already got this far, she might as well launch herself farther down the titular lane.

Mae began to sing the parts that Angus had once sung, having remembered every word, every syllable with perfect accuracy. She remembered the first time she'd played it, messing up on almost half the parts. She remembered her friends berating her for her shitty performance. Mae smiled. She remembered 'the plan'. She remembered the headaches. She remembered the ghost, the researching, the hunting, the fall, the stagger back to Gregg, the chase into the mine, Gregg leaving, the first date, the initiation, the breakup, the darkness. Him. Him and his pawn. Mae frowned as she remembered and started to miss notes. He wanted sacrifice. They laid on the floor. The flashlight went out. Screams. Blood. Crunch. Thump. Bang. Mae stopped. Silence. She avoided death. She saved lives. Mae dropped the bass to the ground. She killed a man. She'd killed two. Three. Dead. Never to be seen again, the lived drained from their body because of her terrible decisions. Taco guy. Bea's dad. Angus. Dropped. Pushed. Stabbed. Sacrificed. But the headaches went away. She'd gotten a job. Things were better.

Mae leaned back, lying on her back on her bed. She didn't know what to feel. She barely knew what she was thinking. All of her thoughts rushed through her head at light speed. She had felt joyed earlier, then regretful, now she only felt numb. All of her thoughts should mean something, right? But no, she felt nothing, couldn't think, instead her thoughts controlled her and not the other way around. She wanted to come back into herself, control her own mind, but she just felt numb— out of control and out of place. Shapes. All of it. Her? Maybe. Her thoughts? Who knew? The bed? Shapes, blurred and borderless. Bass string twanged, foot touched it. She needed to sit up. Put the bass away. Bea wanted to go out. Why? Why sit up? What would change? Just shapes. Not real. Possum Springs? Shapes. Angus, just shapes. Past hadn't mattered. Present didn't matter. Future wouldn't matter. None of it was real.

Dark again. Lifeless, but Mae could hear breathing, not her own— she could barely get air in. Mae held in her breath, no substance to it. Him. He wants blood. Sacrifice. Why resist? None of it really mattered. At least if she changed something then she meant something. She could resist the shapes. Fight back. Bring meaning to life. Make things matter. Bring happiness back. Bring the past back. She could go back. She could fix things. Make things like they once were. He was pleased. No more suffocating. She felt air fill her lungs. Comforting warmth filled her core. Life could be made into something worth living. Mae could fix it. Mae could fix her life, give it all meaning.

Mae could be a legend.


End file.
